Define adoption requirements
- INSIGHT
- Customers need scale, affordability, quality, and volume.
- MY RESPONSE
- Frame the opportunity around a usable product specification.
- NEXT PROOF
- Benchmark samples against application requirements.
VENTURE / SAEED ARABHA
Research.
Meet the market.
MATERIALS COMMERCIALIZATION CUSTOMER DISCOVERY SCALE-UP
ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADSaeed Arabha
TECHNICAL LEADReza Rizvi
THE JOURNEYLab2Market / Inventor to Founder
- 40+Customer interviewsAcross the project
- 2Candidate marketsGraphite/mining & concrete
- NextPilot validationProposed six-month plan
MY ROLE / ENTREPRENEURIAL LEAD
From discovery.
To decisions.
I translate the team’s discovery findings into adoption requirements, candidate business models, and a validation plan. Reza Rizvi leads the technical work.
Match the business model
- INSIGHT
- Producers and additive buyers occupy different places in the value chain.
- MY RESPONSE
- Explore licensing/advisory for graphite and mining, and material sales for concrete.
- NEXT PROOF
- Test process economics and willingness to adopt.
Build a validation plan
- INSIGHT
- Lab-scale output leaves customer and scale-up questions open.
- MY RESPONSE
- Sequence partner selection, sample testing, specifications, and IP planning.
- NEXT PROOF
- Secure a lead partner and agree on test conditions.
How to read this caseReported progress · Customer insights · Future targets
Reported progress
Progress reported by the project team.
Customer insight
Requirements and interpretations from discovery.
Future target
Proposed work or an assumption to validate.
THE STARTING POINT
Better materials.
A harder adoption problem.
From battery thermal management to stronger concrete, 2D materials offer useful properties. Adoption depends on delivering those properties at a specification, price, and volume a customer can use.
THE PRODUCTION BOTTLENECK
Why isn’t graphene
everywhere?
Production constraints become
customer performance risks.
01
Batch-based production
02
Production cost
03
Variable quality
04
Scale-up uncertainty
Reported progressThe market helped
01 02 03 04
CUSTOMER DISCOVERY
The market helped
define the problem.
customer interviews
across the project
across the project
Four requirements kept returning across the interviews:
Scalable production
A process that can grow with demand.
Affordable cost
Economics that fit the intended application.
Consistent quality
Material specifications customers can rely on.
Industrial volume
Enough usable material for production.
THE COMMERCIAL INSIGHT
Material performance creates interest. Reliable production gives a customer a reason to adopt.
A TECHNOLOGY RESPONSE TO THOSE NEEDS
Powerful flow.
Thinner materials.
High-pressure gas generates shear to separate layered feedstock into thinner sheets. Continuous processing and consistent output are development goals.
CFE / PROCESS CONCEPTLayered feedstock
ENTRY-MARKET CHOICES
One platform.
Two routes to adoption.
Customer discovery points to two candidate markets, each with a different route to revenue.
GRAPHITE & MININGMove up the
Move up the
materials value chain.
Help producers turn layered feedstock into higher-value 2D materials through a gas-driven process.
- Candidate business model
- Licensing and advisory
- What needs validation
- Feedstock compatibility, process economics, throughput, and integration.
CONCRETE & RELATED ADDITIVESMatch the material
Match the material
to the application.
Supply consistent additives for strength, durability, or lower cement use. These applications may not require perfect monolayers.
- Candidate business model
- Direct sales of 2D materials
- What needs validation
- Customer specifications, dispersion, dosage, performance, and price.
AN APPLICATION BRANCH
Thermal management adds another test of market fit.
2D-filled polymer composites offer another application to explore: thermal-management components qualified against a user’s performance targets.
Application exploration / technical and supplier qualification still to be established.
THE WIDER OPPORTUNITY
Market size gives context.
Discovery gives direction.
Market estimates provide context. A specific customer need determines where to start.
Explore the pitch market estimates
$50M+by 2027Pitch market estimate
Start with composites and industrial additives.
Composites and industrial additives represent an estimated initial opportunity. Graphite/mining and concrete are candidate entry markets identified through customer discovery.
Advanced compositesIndustrial additivesEarly partners
Market sizes and target years are planning estimates, not current market measurements or realized revenue.
INDUSTRY VALIDATION
Beyond
the laboratory.
Early partnership work with a public advanced-materials company explores a pilot using industry-relevant graphite.
- Industry-relevant feedstock
- Application-driven quality requirements
- Pilot testing toward commercial readiness
Customer qualification is the next proof point.
Future targetA pilot that tests
THE NEXT VALIDATION GATE
A pilot that tests
the business case.
A proposed six-month plan turns the remaining assumptions into five practical tests.
- 01
Confirm the need
Use follow-up interviews to test performance, pricing, volume, and adoption assumptions.
- 02
Choose a pilot partner
Identify a lead concrete or composites partner with a relevant application.
- 03
Deliver material samples
Provide CFE output for customer testing under agreed conditions.
- 04
Define and benchmark
Set product specifications and compare performance with alternatives.
- 05
Plan IP and the pilot
Begin the IP process and formalize the path to a structured pilot.
Future targetFrom lab-scale.
THE LONGER-TERM SCALE-UP CASE
From lab-scale.
To continuous production.
Scale-up would move from manual lab work to an automated platform, with continuous operation as the longer-term goal.
BASELINE IN THE PITCH
Lab-scale + manual
NEXT DEVELOPMENT STEP
Automated platform
LONG-TERM GOAL
24/7 production
PROPOSED IN THE SCALE-UP PITCH$2.5MInvestment ask in the I2F pitch
Capital tied to the next technical milestones.
Proposed funding for automation, capacity expansion, and pilot testing.
Discuss the scale-up pathwayWHERE THE PROJECT STANDS
A clearer direction.
A defined next test.
Discovery has narrowed the commercial questions. Pilot work must now test the answers.
Commercial direction
Four adoption requirements, two candidate markets, and a business-model hypothesis for each.
Review the market choicesProof still needed
Customer-qualified samples, benchmark performance, viable process economics, and a committed pilot partner.
See the validation planSUPPORTING MATERIAL / I2F PITCH
Explore the investment story.
Review the material, market, and scale-up proposal in the original pitch.
SUPPORTING MATERIAL / I2F PITCH
Explore the investment story.
Review the material, market, and scale-up proposal in the original pitch.
01 / 09 The CFE proposition
THE RESEARCH BEHIND THE COMMERCIAL CASE
Explore the underlying work.
RESEARCH & COMMERCIALIZATION
The people
behind CFE.
Materials research and customer discovery, brought together through Lab2Market.
- Saeed Arabha
- Entrepreneurial lead
- Reza Rizvi
- Research supervisor · Technical lead
LET’S FIND THE NEXT USEFUL STEP
Research with
a route to impact.
Have a feedstock, an application, or a testing capability that could help move CFE forward?
Discuss a pilot or collaboration